CHRIS and her daughters JANA and DIANA

It has been almost a year. Chris left us last Thanksgiving day on an achingly beautiful autumn day. I had taken a photo on my cell phone that morning from the living room window as the sun was rising. The sky was a blaze of pink, gold and orange illuminating behind the barren branches of our trees.
Chris had been fighting a battle with colon cancer for almost three years. She knew her time was close and the last time we talked, she said Zo I do not want to die on a holiday, it would just be to hard for all of you.
When the phone rang a little before two p.m on Thanksgiving day I knew. I tentatively answered the phone and heard the broken voice of Jana. I said, oh honey I am so sorry she did not want to go on a holiday. Jana said, it is OK Zo. Every year on Thanksgiving I will have so much to be thankful for because she was my Mom. I thought that was beautifully said.
It is such a sad heartbreaking thing to go through; the loss of someone we love so dearly that fits in our life so tightly.
I loved and adored Chris. She was the sister I never had and the niece and friend I always had. There has not been a day since her passing that I do not think of her. Everywhere I look in my home she is there. The quilt she made me, the throw pillows on my sofa, the jewelry I wear, the note cards I use, the kitchen items my hands touch daily. She is everywhere in my home as well as my heart. To simply say I miss her is such an understatement. We were so alike in so many ways it seems a limb is missing from my body. I know time gently heals the wound but the scar remains.
So this Thanksgiving my husband and I go to be with her Father( my brother.) Others will come, her Mother, her brothers, my son and grandson. Whether words will be spoken or kept locked inside our thoughts will be of her.
Maybe we will share a story or two but perhaps not for I know each of us deal with this loss in our own way.
But we will be there together sharing a meal and remembering and I feel in someway she will know.

I am not going to write more today this story is for her.
Till tomorrow.

Happy Halloween

I had fun with this photo. Actually this is a adorable house. It is my granddaughters house in Kansas. I just tipped the photo and gave it a glow!
Hubby is in the hot tub and I have the ouside lights off. There should be no Tricker treaters coming to the door...........however a tribe of them just about rang the doorbell and almost killed it. I am hoping that is all they did out there.

Well we watched the BCS standings on college football ball just a bit ago and our OREGON DUCKS are now # one! Way to go Ducks. It is very exciting for us here in Eugene OR. This has never happened in the history of the University here. Now everyone surely wants to knock us off. We have concern about OREGON STATE our nearby rival. You know the CIVIL WAR game and all. They would love nothing better than to beat our bottoms into the ground and let the feathers fly where they will. So the pressure is really on now for the rest of the season and we MUST win every game. Scarier than a Halloween fright night.

Well our Thanksgiving plans are made. It was difficult this year as there is a lot going with my family.
Always in the past we have had my son and grandson Tyson for Thanksgiving. So Tyson who is now 27 has spent at least 24 Thanksgivings with us. We always have it our home and any other folks that want to come are more than welcome. So over the years we have had a variety of people around our table. From family, to girl friends, boy friends, just friends and one year I really did not know four that sat at our table.
So this year we are off to my brother's in Washington state. He lives alone and holidays sometimes are difficult. He lost his wife several years ago and his daughter last year passed on Thanksgiving day. We have also invited his beloved daughters mother and brother, my son and grandson. So hopefully all will come and partake in a simple catered meal that will ride in the car with hubby and I from Eugene.
I feel happy about the decision as I know my brother will appreciate so much our company. It will be good to be together to share memories and create new ones. So the plans are under way!

Well I just wanted to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Hubby just got out of the hot tub and we need to get dinner going and then a scary movie. That is our treat for the evening.

Have a scary Halloween but be safe and sane one.

Piano and Chicken Paprika's

Aha... it worked this time. Sometimes don't you just want to pull your hair out with the computer shenanigans? These are the photo's I tried to post with yesterday's blog. Why I could not do it yesterday is way beyond me as I did not do a thing different right now.

Well today hubby and I planned what we will eat Saturday for our OREGON game. He wanted shredded beef taco's in soft corn shells with cilantro, lime, sour cream, onion and on and on! Too funny, I am married to TACO MAN!
So this morning I got up early and put a large boneless beef roast in the slow cooker with lots of ancho and green peppers, onions, and garlic. I made my usual rub of kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic powder and allspice. It is a wonderful rub. We use it on steaks also. Any how after applying the rub I placed it in the slow cooker and added just a tad of beef broth. So amazing smells are wafting through the house now. So tonight we will have wonderful slices of tender roast with smashed red potatoes with brown gravy and glazed carrots. Then tomorrow night the beef taco's and there will still be roast left for sammies.

Well I must walk now. I have my to-do's out of the way for the day except for dinner. So I expect that my husband and I will play some games later this afternoon and then take a early hot tub then dinner and a movie. Simple pleasurs for simple folks.

Have a fun Halloween weekend what ever you are doing.

BLURRY PHOTO

I must apologize for this blurry photo. Somehow the setting on my camera got changed. I must have done it accidentally. So here is the chicken paprika's all whirled up!
The second photo at the bottom is a shot of my old dependable piano. Dear old thing I have it for it 28 years and it was ancient even before I bought it.
I love that old 1800's piano. I have had so many hours of pleasure sitting and plunking out a new song or two. I have Halloween lights on it in the photo because the setting on the camera was wrong it slowed the picture down and the lights sort of look like bones..........too perfect.

The recipe for the chicken dish was OK, hubby liked it but I want to make changes next time I make it. Also I did over cook the chicken. It almost fell off the bones so there was not much shape to the pieces. However the sauce was wonderful and the noodles swimming in that sauce was amazing. I served broccoli with butter and Parmesan cheese and crispy sourdough toast to the side. That is a big plate of food you see and I will have you know I took half of it off before eating it and I still was stuffed. Truly comfort food on that plate.

I heard from my daughter today and my sweet niece my younger brothers daughter via the e-mail. My niece is crazy for Halloween. She is going to three parties and is working on her costume. She said it is her favorite holiday.
Well I remember days gone by and many parties and loony costumes. What fun that was. The last party hubby I went to we were American Indians. We were both wearing buckskins but I had on a skirt so you could tell us apart ha. Hubby had on a long black wig and scary war paint. I went along the lines of Pocahontas. Anyhow such a wild nutty time we had. Now we keep the lights off so the hundreds of kids will not be ringing the bell every second. I swear there are hundreds. Just too much. The kids are respectful however if the light is off they do not come to the door. I love decorating the house though that is such fun. I also like having a Halloween costume party though we have not had one for a few years.

I am going to pass along the chicken paprika's recipe to you. I really think next time I will make my friends recipe if I can persuade her to give it to me.
Recipe:
Chicken Paprika's
one tablespoon of canola oil
one onion finely chopped
one clove garlic minced
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika( I added a little more)
one cut up fryer rinsed
1/2 cup chicken broth
four ripe plum tomatoes(I used the Roma's we grew)
one red bell pepper chopped
1/2 Anaheim pepper chopped(I added this, it was good)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon flour
egg noodles for serving

In your dutch over add the oil, chopped onion and garlic. Cover and on med low heat for about fifteen minutes, steam the onions, do not brown them. Sprinkle is the paprika stir and cook for another minute.
The onions will turn a luscious red. Add the chicken pieces, broth, peppers and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper bring to boil and then reduce heat to med low partially covered and simmer for fifty minutes .
While the chicken is cooking whisk the sour cream and flour together in a small bowl. Set aside.
When the chicken has cooked and is tender remove from the pot to a bowl. Cook the sauce mixture over medium heat uncovered to reduce it slightly. Pour 1/2 cup of sauce into the sour cream mixture and whisk till smooth, then slowly whisk back into the sauce pot. Return the chicken to the pot covering well with sauce and heat through over low heat. Serve over the top of the noodles.

Well that is it. I think if I were to make this recipe again I would use cornstarch instead of flour. Just add some to a little broth mixture mix till smooth and then add back into the sauce. Then right before serving I would add in the sour cream and incorporate it gently into the sauce.
Anyhow it was tasty and hubby loved it. It made enough for the two of us to have again tonight, I will just make more noodles. I am also making my fave biscuits tonight to go with. I absolutely love biscuits not that I need to love biscuits. My Mom made them all of the time. Is there anything better than a hot biscuit with the butter running down through your fingers? Sooooooooooooo good!

Hubby just went to the hot tub. The showers have halted for a bit so he out there soaking away. It does feel so good on ones back after a day of hard work.

I will not write tomorrow as we are having leftovers tonight so there will not be much to chat about. Also I have a day of to-do's that I must accomplish.

Till later. Well I just published this and there are no pictures.......here we go again. So I am going after them now. So they will be on a separate blog right after this.

GRANDSON TYSON

Well I tried to post this a few days ago(the 23rd) when it was my grandson's 27th birthday.
I have two grandson's both such great young men. I am so proud of them both. And I have the most darling granddaughters. Both so different but so special in their own way. I am such a lucky grandma.
Tyson was my first born grandchild and I was very fortunate to live near him for a few years when he was very young. He loved me so and would get so excited when I stopped by after work to spend a little time with him. He was a happy little guy with a mop of blond curls. He was such a little charmer when he was small. He had this big booming voice that would make you laugh. My hubby and I spent a couple weeks each summer with Ty until he was fifteen. His Mom or Dad would drop him off and then we would go camping or boating or both. He was a avid little fisherman and he liked to eat the fish too. One time we caught so many fish at Elk Lake and I just keep frying them up all crispy and he just kept saying, I can eat one more Grams. Where was this little guy putting them we wanted to know? So Happy 27th Birthday Ty.

I am so happy I figured out the problem with getting my photo's to my blog. Tonight I am making for the very first time Chicken Paprika's. Now I do have an old time friend that makes this dish and I am sure after her years of experience and expertise that her recipe must be incredible. She wrote me some time back and said she and her little grandson Joey were making it. She said the tradition must live on. Too sweet. So we will see tonight if this is a good recipe. I surely smells good as it is simmering away on the stove at this moment. I will take a photo tonight I promise and will share the recipe if it turns out respectable.

The rain is has started now, I hear it beating on the roof as I write. It was a dry but cold and foggy day. I did not think to wear my gloves while walking today and my fingers were so cold as was my nose. Brrrrrr. There was not much breeze either. I chatted away to my brother while walking. We always have so much to say it seems. He was busy cleaning his gutters and doing some outside chores. Well it is certainly that time of year. He said later he would build a fire in the stove in his garage and putter around out there. My brother and my son putter just like my father did. Just tinkering on this or that or fixing or sorting or whatever. You get the picture. I think it gives one a sense of place, peace and contentment.

Well I am just filling space now. I am tired as I was in the office for most of the day and I am tired of the computer at this point so I will close.

Till tomorrow with a pic and recipe hopefully.

Well now what a nice mess this is! For some reason unbeknown to me I cannot get my photo's from my photo program to my blog. So I am trying to bumble through this and figure out what has happened as I have had no problems until now. I am not the most technical person and that is an understatement.

Well today is Sunday and it is showery out. We had brief wind and rain storm come through early this morning while we were still snuggled in bed. Later in the morning while having breakfast we heard thunder in the distance and the sky was dark slate. It is quite cozy actually and I am enjoying it. Who knows what will happen next.

I have dough chilling in the fridge for rolled lemon cookies. We love lemon anything and these are the best cookies I have ever tasted. I will include the recipe on this blog, sorry no photo, but hey it is only a cookie right?

Well college football is blowing our minds. With Missouri wining over Oklahoma now where does that put OREGON? Maybe still number two in the BCS polls and Auburn number one? Maybe a good thing not to be number one as three #1 teams have fallen on the road. Do not want to be a fallen number four for sure! It is quite an exciting season to say the least.

Right now hubby is vacuuming all of our hardwood floors with his handy dandy floor vac he uses in his business. Our home is all hardwood flooring except for one room. So it a lot of floors to vacuum. I love them but you do have to be on top of the dust issue. But when they are clean they are clean. Not like a carpet that holds everything till death do it part.

Two days ago we deconstructed our summer deck. That always makes me so sad stashing all the patio furniture and summer decor items away for another year. It looks pretty sparse out there now. We have the spa which we enjoy and our fire bowl and a few chairs without cushions and that is it. I surely wish we had a covered patio but it would steal the light from our kitchen and family room. The deck does have some of natures decorations however as it is littered with colorful leaves.

For dinner this evening we are having a veggie meal. I am making potato latkes. We love these crispy morsels. Crispy and golden on the outside and soft potato on the inside. Just smear with a little sour cream and pepper and so so good. To go with I am making a summer salad with the last of our cucumbers and tomatoes that I ripened in a brown bag. We will have many more tomatoes coming on as I have two large bags of them. It just amazes me how they ripen just two or three a day. Just perfect for using. Anyhow I am making the honey mustard dressing once again for the salad. I do have to admit that it is my fave. I enjoy blue cheese also but that honey mustard is so yummy. Lemony, mustardy and such a pretty color on the salad.

Here is the recipe for the cookies. This recipe is a old recipe out of a Pillsbury specialty cookbook. I have been making them for years. If you wanted to make them for the holiday you could frost them but they are so good just plain.

Best Ever Lemon Cookies:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening part softened butter
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract(do not use concentrated lemon juice in the bottle)
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter shortening mixture and sugar add eggs and lemon extract and mix well. Stir in flour with the baking powder and salt. Gather together in bowl and cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least a hour( longer is better.)
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out 1/8 " thick use your fave cookie cutters and bake on ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a silicone sheet those are amazing.)
Bake until light brown approximately 8 minutes. I like mine slightly browned around the edges.
Then pop into your watering mouth and eat!

What I adore about these cookies is by rolling them thin they are crispy around the edges and a tad chewy soft in the inside. They are not to sweet, just right as Goldilocks would say!

I have been lallygagging with this blog as I decided to make the cookies as I write. At the moment the smell of lemon has my mouth watering believe me. I think hubby is snagging a warm cookie right now as I heard him in the kitchen.

I hope you are having a nice Sunday wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You should bake some cookies too.

I hope next time I blog that there will be a photo.
Till later.

HALLOWEEN

It will not be long and the little goblin's and witches will be out in droves. I did a little decorating on the front steps yesterday. A few pumpkins and some other decor I set out every year. I hung my skeleton man in the front window and the grim reaper inside the house. Of course Ms. Penelope Pumpkin head sits in the entry reading her book while eating her candies.
I strung orange icicle lights in the family room. The glow coming from them makes it so cozy at night. I would like to keep them there all year but folks would think I'm odd.........well?

Tonight we are having chili this is my hubby's fave chili recipe. So I will get that simmering about four or so. I am making cheesy corn muffins for the bottom of our deep chili bowls. That is way we like it served. When you do that you have that nice corny taste at the bottom of the bowl. Chopped onions and cheese cover the top. I will share this simple little recipe with you. However there will be a difference in mine this evening as I am going to blanch a few red tomatoes from our garden and toss in to cook down. By the way the garden is out and all stuffed in the debris cans. The garden space looks sad now, just empty beds awaiting spring. Later this week I will take down the garden decor clean and pack away.

My husband just got home and needs my assistance in getting the hot tub ready to go. So I will post a photo and recipe tomorrow. It is so pretty here I should be outdoors regardless. I do not want to waste a moment of this day.
Till tomorrow.